Sunday, September 27, 2009

This is gonna be a pretty quick one..went out with intentions on getting some material yesterday. Proceeded to get the family off the ground and runnin. Packed up the gear and headed over to Marin school to a 10 stair with a rail, that has stoppers on it cryin shame. Anyway crew showed up Milo filmin, Jonathan, Dukie, Luigi, Kevin, and Buddha. Session at the 10 stair and then over to a sweet new park in Richmond. Technically the park is not open but there was a gang of kids there and we all skated till dark. Love fresh concrete!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Shelby came into my field of vision as I began to explore more skating groups on flickr. Her talent is immediately apparent. This is the 3rd installment of photographer spotlights and you know what they say..."the 3rd times the charm." Ummm that kind of sounds bad and Ryan and Ben if your watching you guys kick ass but you will admit Shelby has a certain something going on. Enough of my chatter on with the interview and photo gallery.http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelbygrimnes/

Christian

C: Name and occupationS: Shelby Grimnes….Photographer, and I work on leads for my dad’s business

C: How did you get started with photography?S: It was my freshman year in high school and I always took my mom’s point and shoot to the skatepark so my parents decided to get me my own camera for Christmas, they got me a Canon Rebel XT, and it just took off from there.

C: Talk to me a little about your interest in skating photography.S: Skateboarding photography is what got me interested in photography, I started skating in 6th grade and since my Dad works for a Magazine subscriptions service I got a bunch of free skateboarding magazines from Transworld, Skateboarder, Slap (RIP) and Thrasher, I never read the articles in them, just looked at the photos, I just loved the look of the photos, they really caught my eye. But another thing that sparked my interest was my friends Dane and Derek, two photographers from my local park, I’d look at their photos on Flickr and they always got me hyped and got me to start taking photos. Skateboarding photography is what I shoot the most, I love it, it’s awesome, and I always have fun going out with everyone and shooting photos. I also shoot lifestyles or portraits what you want to call them and I like to go take night time photos once and awhile.

C: I see that you have had some published work, did that just happen or did you have to go out and make it happen?S: Some of it just happened, a local Arizona skate magazine called AZ Steez ran a couple of photos they got from my flickr, so I just started sending them stuff and they ran it and then they asked me to do a photo feature for one of the issues, and the issue with my photo feature just came out. But the others I had to make it happen, I just send a lot of photos to different magazines and some of them run my photos and some don’t because they don’t have any where to place them or they just didn’t like the photos I guess.

C: How big is the skating scene in and around where you live?S: The skating scene is HUGE in Arizona, it’s one of the biggest in the world I would say. We have a lot of good spots that no one else really has and we have perfect weather 8 months out of the year and I guess our skateparks are good to. AZ has a lot of good skateboarding photographers to, like Matt Price and Ty Bush just to name a few.

C: Do you have a set group of guys you shoot with or is it who ever is ripping spot x that day?S: It was like that for awhile, I only shot with a few people. But once I started shooting photos with the UBF guys I started meeting more and more skaters and started shooting photos of them so now I shoot photos with a lot of different people, but I have that group of friends that I shoot photos with all the time.

C: Are you self taught or do you have schooling?S: I was self taught most of the time, I didn’t really take a photo class until I knew what I was doing so it was more like a review. I did get help from a few friends but that was it.

C: Being a female shooter good, not good, or kinda what ever?S: Its cools, I don’t really see a difference between me and a dude shooting photos.

C: How heavy is your post process procedure? And what do you use?S: Since I shoot digital, I just upload the photo to photoshop, and edited it on CS3, then if I’m not going to send it to any magazines or if the photo isn’t being used for any AD’s then I’ll usually upload it my flickr.

C: Do you skate?S: Yeah I shred

C: Dream photo gig?S: Being a staff photographer for a skateboarding magazine or company.

C: Thanks for taking time to field my questions...any shout outs or folks you want to give thanks to?S: No problem. I’d like to thank Dane Federer and Derek Bixler for helping me out when I first started shooting photos. Stephen Denton for taking sick photos that inspire me to keep shooting photos. Lisa at UBF for giving me a chance to shoot photos for her shop. Andrew Crawford for bugging me to shoot photos of him because if I didn’t I’d never be friends with any one at UBF and defiantly wouldn’t be shooting with the people I do now. Jesus for being awesome and saving me from the death I deserve and giving me the gift of photography, without him I’d would be nothing. Shout out’s to Zac Archuleta, Chris Weigele, Anthony Carney, Rick Weigele and all the KKSM crew for being awesome friends. All my friends from Pecos and Matt Benally, Derrick Lines, Eric Dutton, Caleb Schrank, Andrew Crawford, Eric Hill and anyone else I could of missed.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

I'm definitely breaking new ground on this one. A local shop 510 skateboards put on a "jam" at the Harrison park last night. After finishing up a portrait session for a local business person I grabbed my gear and trooped over to the park. The jam was to be focused on the 9ft wall and a large hip dubbed the "cheese grater". Best tricks were rewarded with decks and shoes. It was a cool experience and I have never done a demo before so it was good experience. I feel like the hectic nature of shooting this type of skating gave my shots something they have not had before. Probably another gain from getting this under my belt is more exposure. As I try to break into this area with my photography I recon the more I'm seen doing it the more folks will know I'm the guy to go to if they need photo work done. Only time will tell. Keep on keepin on.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Watching Sean and Noah skate last night helped me to remember one of the key components of a true skateboarder. That component is sheer dedication. So the mission involved picking up Noah and then hooking up with Sean and a couple of his friends. We met downtown and did a little flatland warm up then Sean was hot to get over to the courthouse 10 and get busy with a front big spin. The courthouse 10 is a pretty gnarly set and this brings me to the original statement in this blog post. Sean tossed himself down this set so many times and came crazy close to sticking the trick but fu*#ed up his hand and foot before having to throw in the towel. It was raw, he will go back and kill it soon. Noah flexed his metal at the hydrant spot that was next, just keeping at it until tricks are got. Big hop and backside 180, and not only was the gap big but you know the hydrant was up in there. To wrap it up all I can say is I'm proud to be able to roll with these guys and take photos of them. For the love of the lifestyle!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Finally got out to a place I have been hearing about for a while. Out in Richmond is a campus that I was told has all kinds of sweet stuff to skate. So a mission was hatched to get out there and do some shooting. Picked up Josh, Then met up with Andy, Mosiah, David and Jonathen. The spot was definitely dope, stair sets good handrails, manny pads not to mention a killer roof gap. Unfortunately the roof gap could only be done on foot due to gravel factor but still worth a shot. A fun session was had but rain and busted board due to large tricks got us off campus and looking for an underground spot. What follows are a few shots from the college session and something I also needed to share is 4 out of 5 people broke their boards today....kinda lame and spooky. I'm gonna get scoob and the gang in on this one.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Well, I was able to sneak in a quick one last night and put the new lens through some motions. I kind of have to laugh at myself because the excitement of this lens really got me pumped to shoot but as I got home and uploaded shots I was less than super stoked on the results. I think it has to do with the idea that shooting this lens is going to require a different set of skills/process. For those who shoot wider angle I'm sure you know where I'm coming from. To get good shots my positioning relative to subject is going to have to be totally different so there will be a bit of a curve to this...but I'm down to get up in there and stick with it and learn more. These are the keepers and stay tuned for more to see the evolution of the "wide angle saga". Oh and one other quick thing...I'm becoming addicted to skating/shooting skating again! Peace.

Friday, September 4, 2009

So I'm gonna get back to the reason I started this blog in the first place. Last night I got the green light to go and skate , and hey I think I need to make something clear at this point...my wife rocks and skating and photography are made possible cuz she wanted me to pursue a dream. So when I say I got the green light its not like she keeps me on a tight leash or anything like that, its the right thing to ask, and not assume. That was some free relationship advice..lol. So with skating and shooting in mind and darkness approaching the logical choice is the park which is lit up at night. Got there and did a bit of skating, I found a new line for me that puts me in the big wall frontside and I had so much fun. Noah was workin at the park and started to throw down on this hip and I informed him I had my gear with me and if he wanted I could score some shots. He did so I did..and having the gear set up always creates a session, good times and pretty productive shooting. Oh and gonna sign off with the idea I got the 14mm 3.5 today and I'm so juiced to put it through some motions, oh boy oh boy. Till next time.